Wordle 1908 Hint

Hint: In "The Defence of Fort M'Henry" (later set to music as "The Star-Spangled Banner"), bombs did this in the air.

Not Enough? Get the first letter of today's Wordle below.

New to Wordle? You can play it at the New York Times, and here are some thoughts on how I go about solving each day's puzzle.

First Letter: B

Week 1 NFL Picks

The 2026 NFL season kicks off tomorrow night with the New England Patriots visiting the Seahawks in Seattle.

I don't know if I'll keep up weekly picks all season or not -- my level of interest is way down this year and will probably remain down unless the Chiefs or Jaguars are just really amazing.

What ESPN used to call "Pigskin Pick'em" is now just "ESPN Pick'em." I'll record my picks there to keep myself honest, and I've set up a leaderboard in a case any KN@PPSTER readers want to provably out-perform me.

This first week set of picks isn't particularly well-informed. It's based partly on last season's results and mostly on my personal prejudices.  "Upset" picks (those picked by less than half of ESPN Pick'em players) are marked with asterisks. Any changes will be made prior to kickoff and noted in an update to this post. Here we go:

• Seattle Seahawks beat New England Patriots
• San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams*
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat Cincinnati Bengals*
• Detroit Lions beat New Orleans Saints
• Tennessee Titans beat New York Jets
• Baltimore Ravens beat Indianapolis Colts
• Pittsburgh Steelers beat Atlanta Falcons
• Chicago Bears beat Carolina Panthers
• Jacksonville Jaguars beat Cleveland Browns
• Houston Texans beat Buffalo Bills*
• Las Vegas Raiders beat Miami Dolphins
• Minnesota Vikings beat Green Bay Packers*
• Philadelphia Eagles beat Washington Commanders
• Los Angeles Chargers beat Arizona Cardinals
• Dallas Cowboys beat New York Giants
• Kansas City Chiefs beat Denver Broncos*

I'm Already Pre-Shopping Luggage Options ...

 ... for the Kawasaki Eliminator 450 SE. And I already found something interesting:

I hadn't even been thinking about a "sissy bar" backrest, but now I am, for two reasons:

1. It costs about as much with a 22-pound-rated luggage rack as some of the luggage racks I'm looking at; and
2. The bike is comfortable to sit on, but I suspect that cruiser-style seat might be be hard on my lower back on longer rides (which is why I am also considering after-market bench seats, etc.).

I have a top box that would likely fit that rack just fine, and I'm not sure I'd need additional panniers even for longer trips. The engine guard has good mounting points for bags, I could run a tank bag for smaller stuff, maybe even a fork bag for tools and/or ultralight camping gear.

This things would get rid of the pillion seat, but I'm really not expecting to be hauling any passengers, other than perhaps trying to talk Tamara into taking one short ride, early on (I had to haul her to work on my little 50cc scooter once when her car broke down, but she just generally hates the idea).

I won't be making any decisions until I've put a few miles on the bike, but I'm already seeing options that are somewhat less expensive than I had anticipated.